Beef prices too high?

[agman]

Agman- "Don't confuse what one unscrupulous local may do versus what processors do. "

Point taken... But...... Jason is in Alberta, I am in Manitoba and Porker is in Michigan (or Minnesota,can't remember).Literally thousands of miles between us. Hardly "local"!!!
If the specs are the same for "ground beef" and "hamburger" why are they not labelled either "ground beef" or "hamburger",period, instead of one or the other???
To be more clear, what is the difference between hamburger and ground beef????? If they are the same thing why are they not called the same thing?????

I asked the people who produce the product. I did and they know more than I do. I have witnessed tons of ground beef or hamburger being processed. I have never even seen organ meat in the processing facility. For that matter, have you ever been inside a processing facility? I have forward priced many million of dollars of product for ground beef or hamburger and not once in nearly 30 years have I ever been asked to price organ meat for grinding or for any other purpose. If you don't believe what I posted then you have to provide evidence to the contrary that such action, as described by Porker or Jason is the norm or is widespread.

This whole situation evolved into a classic case of someone making an incorrect statement which is then extrapolated to an entire industry. This is exactly the type of misinformation that harms this industry-unsupported statements.

 

[Anonymous]

Tommy,

The USDA statement of "beef prices being too high" is clearly being taken out of context. This statement is from the consumer perspective, not the producer perspective.

Do I think beef prices are too high? Of course not but I am only a small portion of the consuming public.

Do most consumers think beef prices are too high relative to the price of poultry and pork AT CURRENT FUEL PRICE LEVELS? You bet they do!

USDA is making that statement from a consumer perspective, not a producer perspective.

You R-CALFers keep forgetting, imported beef is not our competition, poultry and pork are.

If consumers find more value in pork and poultry for their dollar, beef prices are obviously too high FOR MOST CONSUMERS.

Leave it to the USDA blamers to take USDA's comment out of context AGAIN.



~SH~

 

[Faster horses]

I believe what you said, SH.

I bought some New York Strips at the store, on sale and they were $6.59/lb. I also bought some Center Cut Pork Chops and they were $2.59/lb. That is a pretty big difference. In fact, the man we buy half beef from every year didn't know there was that much difference between pork and beef at the counter. Kinda opened his eyes when I told him.

Anyone that thinks differently needs to browse through the meat counter at your favorite grocery store.

YEP, pork and chicken is the competition.

 

[Broke Cowboy]

FH wrote:

Anyone that thinks differently needs to browse through the meat counter at your favorite grocery store.

Seems we might have been here before, but ...

While some men do go to the store, traditionally it is the woman who goes and spends the family food budget. The vast majority of women make the purchase decision.

And they do tend to look for the best bang for the buck - cannot blame them either.

Ask most men what the price of steak, roast or burger is and you will get a blank look.

Soon as beef gets higher than the competition price it tends to go on the back burner (sic).

Example: Urban dweller family feeding two kids - wife / mom goes to the grocery store and is faced with $6-7 per pound beef or $2-3 per pound pork or chicken. What will she buy more of?

Price is important to the consumer - more so than where it comes from, and often so important that the pricey cuts get overlooked / exchanged for pork and chicken.

Regards,

B.C.

 

[TimH]

Agman- "If you don't believe what I posted then you have to provide evidence to the contrary that such action, as described by Porker or Jason is the norm or is widespread."

I believe what you posted,Agman. I'm only curious to find out if there is any difference between hamburger and ground beef.
The person that told me about adding organ meat(it was liver in this case) to ground beef and then calling it hamburger, worked in the meat department at a large well-known supermarket. As Jason said, this was done to improve color on some unsold packages and it was done at the retail store, not at the processor. This was at least 15 years ago.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with doing this as long as standards are followed and people know what they are buying.

 

[agman]

Agman- "If you don't believe what I posted then you have to provide evidence to the contrary that such action, as described by Porker or Jason is the norm or is widespread."

I believe what you posted,Agman. I'm only curious to find out if there is any difference between hamburger and ground beef.
The person that told me about adding organ meat(it was liver in this case) to ground beef and then calling it hamburger, worked in the meat department at a large well-known supermarket. As Jason said, this was done to improve color on some unsold packages and it was done at the retail store, not at the processor. This was at least 15 years ago.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with doing this as long as standards are followed and people know what they are buying.

As I stated, this is not a common practice, rather it is the rare exception. Other than "name" there is no technical difference. I also work with major fast food chains. I have never seen or heard of any organ meat in their product. For your information the major retail chains almost exclusively have stopped producing any ground product in house because of potential liability.

 

[Jason]

Jason, clarify if this is a locally owned shop or a major retailer. Thanks

This was in reference to organ meat added to hamburger.

It was common practice at the local IGA back when each store had butchers in the store and they repackaged meat if it didn't sell fast enough.

Since the processing has been moved to central locations, it is tougher for them to pull this kind of thing.

The store still has a reputation for selling bigger batches of hamburger to small fast food outlets (independent) that is way cheaper than seems reasonable.

 

[agman]

Jason, clarify if this is a locally owned shop or a major retailer. Thanks

This was in reference to organ meat added to hamburger.

It was common practice at the local IGA back when each store had butchers in the store and they repackaged meat if it didn't sell fast enough.

Since the processing has been moved to central locations, it is tougher for them to pull this kind of thing.

The store still has a reputation for selling bigger batches of hamburger to small fast food outlets (independent) that is way cheaper than seems reasonable.

What you witnessed was years ago-why even mention it in today's climate? Even then I never witnessed such action at any processor or major retail establishment. Remember IGA is independently owned and would not even reflect what is happening in other IGA stores. I used the word "unscrupulous local " for a reason.

 

[mrj]

Guys, as well as reasons you cited for grinding liver, heart, etc. with the hamburger to retain red color longer, and maybe make it less costly, I do recall "healthy eating" magazine articles articles suggesting that, and even including kidneys and lung because of the additional nutrients found in "organ meats" as well as making "ground beef" less costly, but it was suggested asking the butcher at the consumer level to make those additions. I don't know if the "additional nutrients in organ" meats holds up to scrutiny and comes out factual or not. Just an idea back then to do that for "healthier" eating promoted in "natural" foods articles.

MRJ